Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains

"Azer, can you help me break the tip of this bone?" Back in the front room, Chen Qi said to Azer who had put a bundle of new firewood in the corner.

Aze took it and compared the length, "Is it okay to come here?"

"Okay." Chen Qi nodded. A Ze clenched his fingers hard and broke his bones.

The broken part of the bone was quite flat, Chen Qi rubbed it, and the contact surface was a little rough. "It would be nice if I could find a grindstone." You don't need to worry about hurting yourself when you grind it.

"Millstone? Do you mean the black stone you asked me to look for in the Chishui River?" When fetching water at noon, Aze wanted to wander around the Chishui River to see if there was any kind of stone that Chen Qi needed. As a result, after hearing Ake talk about Chen Qi's encounter with a vulture in the morning, he was worried and came back in a hurry.

"Well." Chen Qi shook the other two bones in his hand, "If these two bones can be polished with a grindstone, they should be as sharp as Carlo's bone knife."

A Ze was silent for a while, "I'll go to Chishui River to find it, Chen Qi, just stay at home and don't go anywhere."

"Well, the salt has been used up, I will filter the remaining salt stones." Chen Qi nodded and replied.

Aze hurriedly turned out the remaining salt stones, and piled the water from the two large clay pots that Ake had brought back by the fire. Aze knew that refining salt was a very time-consuming thing, so Chen Qi also Not going anywhere.

After watching Chen Qi melt a piece of salt stone into the water in a small pottery plate, Aze left. After walking a distance in the direction of Chishui River, he suddenly turned around and ran quickly in the other direction.

After Chen Qi melted a piece of salt rock, he found a small branch and folded it into an oval shape, intending to make a simple filter. Use the roots of the banyan tree to fix the shape of the twig, take out the piece of cloth that has been cut by Chen Qi, compare the size on the branch, cut out the appropriate shape, and tie the roots to the quilt. On the small bone needles that were simply treated, a small cloth bag was sewn on the branch. For better filtering effect, Chen Qi sewed two layers.

After finishing, filter the melted brine several times, and then put it on the fire and bake it slowly. Re-burning the salt was a time-consuming task, and Chen Qi didn't want to stay there while he was waiting.

Chen Qi picked almost all the dandelions growing on both sides of the trench. Although he used a handful to make two dishes before, there were still a lot of them left. Carefully plucked the flowers, washed them a little in clean water, removed some dirt and grass clippings, found a relatively large leaf, and spread the flowers on it. It was the hottest time of the day outside, so Chen Qi cleared out a small space beside the door, and put the leaves with flowers on the ground to dry. In the future, these flowers can be used as materials for scented tea, so that there is no need to drink boiled water every day. . The rest of the whole dandelion is piled up in the corner, and I plan to use it for cooking at night and tomorrow.

The golden needle flower in the pocket may have been squeezed for too long and a little embarrassing. I forgot to ask Aze if there was any problem with this thing, but Chen Qi was not in a hurry, and put the golden needle flower in the water once. On one side, I plan to wait for Azer to come back and ask again.

There are a lot of animal skins in the Aze family. Chen Qi picked it up and found a gray-brown animal skin that looks a bit like cowhide. The animal skin is very tough and light. Chen Qi planned to use it to sew a backpack. It was too troublesome to always use the whole animal skin to pack things, and it would scatter all over the floor if he was not careful.

There is no pen here. Chen Qi took a small piece of charcoal and found a smooth small slate to draw a simple backpack design. He was worried that he would not be able to sew something too complicated.

He simply drew the lines that need to be cut on the animal skin. Chen Qi did not plan to cut the animal skin piece by piece and sew it up according to the shape of the backpack, but cut off the unnecessary animal skin with a sword-horn knife and directly The whole piece of animal skin is made into the shape of a backpack, and then a light and soft twig is added to the bottom of the backpack to fix it, so that it can avoid squeezing together when putting things in the future. Six or seven roots are used to form a rope for sewing. The hide is very tough, and it can only be sewed with a rope by knocking out small holes in it with a bone needle.

The straps are made of double-layered animal skins. In order to bear more weight, Chen Qi densely sewed four or five layers at the seam between the straps and the backpack. Although it looks ugly, it is sturdy enough to carry behind him. Who will watch. After the hole on the back cover is opened, a simple version of the backpack is completed by stringing the root ropes on.

This backpack is almost half a person's size. When Chen Qi was about to go outside to pick up some rocks to test the load-bearing capacity of the backpack, he found that it was already dark outside.

The two or three salt stones were already refined on the way to making the backpack, because the salt stones were big enough, and after refining, there was even a finger-thick layer of salt on a ceramic plate, which should last for a while. Chen Qi went to the door to get back the dandelions that had been dried before. When he went out, he found that there was no light outside, and he couldn't even see the tall fig tree next to him. The sound is like being completely in complete darkness, isolated from the world.

Aze hadn't come back yet, Chen Qi thought that the other party would almost come back after just going around the Chishui River. Chen Qi regretted it a little, and should have told Aze to come back earlier even if he couldn't find it.

Today should be the moonless day that Aze said before. Chen Qi didn't expect the darkness of the moonless day to be so thick and quiet. Apart from the crackling sound of the firewood burning in the room, there was only the sound of his own low and fast heartbeat. echoing. Can Azer find his way home in this kind of night where he can't see his fingers?

Chen Qi walked around the room twice, and added a few pieces of wood to the fire to make the fire more vigorous. After thinking about it, I found two large pottery plates with relatively shallow bodies, put a few pieces of wood in the pottery plates, lit the fire from the fire, and moved the pottery plates to the door outside the house and placed one on the left and one on the right. Fire can ward off most wild animal attacks, and it can also light the way for those who want to go home. In such darkness, a little light can go a long way.

The animal skin door curtain is still half-open and half-closed, but tonight there will be no wind that will affect it at all. Next to it is Chen Qi's animal skin backpack that he made for an afternoon, but at this moment, this backpack can no longer attract him half a point. happy emotions.

Chen Qi was sitting by the fire, and in his mind, for a while, what happened in the real world appeared in his mind, and for a while, what he had encountered in the past few days, after the first month after the first snow came without a day, that is, it will be in three weeks. It's winter. There is no sign of getting cold at all, will winter suddenly enter that day?

Chen Qi picked up the small slate used to draw the design of the backpack before, dipped it in some water and carefully wiped the carbon traces on it with a rag. The first stroke of the word "正".

I don't know how long it took, there was a sound from outside the house, Chen Qi thought that some animal had broken in, he retreated behind the fire and held a sword-horn knife in a defensive motion, and waited until he saw a small gazelle coming in. A Zeshi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense expression eased, "You're back." Even Chen Qi didn't know how much hope was in his tone.

A Ze was stunned, pursed his lips and watched Chen Qiliang for a long time before replying softly, "Well, I'm back."

A Ze found a piece of animal skin and spread it on the ground, and put the little gazelle on his shoulders on it. The movement was a little awkward. Chen Qi realized that A Ze's hair and animal skin were still full of moisture, and they had been tied to his right wrist. The animal skin on the top was tied to the left arm, covering the entire upper arm tightly. There were a few faint scratches on the back of the neck. If A Ze squatted down, Chen Qi would not have found it.

"Are you injured?" Chen Qi asked tentatively.

A Ze's expression showed a hint of panic, but he quickly calmed down. He turned sideways to avoid Chen Qi's inquiring eyes, and denied: "No."

Chen Qi raised his eyebrows, he wanted to lie so obviously he wanted to hide? "Your left hand is injured, it's hard to catch the prey?" Chen Qi's eyes fell on the little gazelle. If even Aze would be injured, the living environment in this world is really not so bad, but he has knowledge What happened to the people who had hunted Azer and who could easily kill an adult male warthog in seconds? I don't know if I can get some traps to catch the prey. It's not the way to let Azer risk his life to hunt.

"No." Aze explained anxiously, for fear that Chen Qi would doubt his hunting ability, "It wasn't that he was injured while hunting."

"Isn't it injured by hunting? Did you go to fight?" Chen Qi wondered, it is impossible to fall on the road without being injured elsewhere, only the neck and arm will be injured, right?

A Ze lowered his head, like a big dog who did something wrong, and then gave a soft hum after a while.

"What? You really went to fight? With whom?"

"...vultures."

Chen Qi thought there was something wrong with his hearing, and asked uncertainly, "You fought with a vulture? Did you meet a vulture?"

"It wasn't an encounter, I went to the vultures' territory to fight them."

Chen Qi choked.

Aze continued: "Not only vultures, but I also fought with cheetahs, lions, and jackals. I killed the lion and jackal. The lion was too old, and the meat of the jackal was not tasty, so I didn't bring it with me. Come back. The cheetah was too cunning and too fast, I was spared a paw and let it run away. I also killed a small half of the vultures, and they have started to migrate early."

"Why?" Chen Qi swallowed his saliva and asked a little hard.

A Ze raised his head and looked at him, the beautiful pupils reflected the jumping firelight next to him, which was frighteningly bright. "That way you won't have animals attacking you when you walk around during the day."